Notice: This file is archived for historical purposes only and is not being updated.
Please see the index for updates.

Internet Tools Summary

December Communications, Inc. (john@december.com)

29 Sep 1997

1992-1997 by December Communications, Inc. (john@december.com). You may use this document for any personal or
educational purpose. For-profit distribution requires permission.

Provided ``as is'' without expressed or implied warranty.

PURPOSE: to list tools available on the Internet that are used for network information retrieval (NIR) and
Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC). This is not meant to be a strict categorization or an exhaustive list, rather
a reference catalog. I welcome comments and suggestions.

AUDIENCE: those getting started in understanding what you can do on the Internet in NIR and CMC; for experienced
users, it collects and summarizes sources of information.

ASSUMPTION: You have access to and know how to use finger, ftp, gopher, http, telnet, email, World Wide Web, or
Usenet newsgroups.

REFERENCES: The references which are listed at the end of this document provide very useful guides to these tools.

NOTES:

1. Respect your access privileges to these tools.

2. This information changes; additions/comments welcome.

3. For demo purposes, I have used Unix commands; certainly Unix is not the only operating system required for these
tools and forums. Apologies to those who don't have Unix.

4. On the classification (NIR v. CMC): some tools could be used for either, such as telnet and email. I've placed
them in what I feel are "principal use" categories, e.g., telnet is used mostly for NIR, and email is commonly used
for CMC (although both have applications in the other category).

5. Many of these tools have applicability off the Internet. Usenet, for example, is not confined to the Internet,
and Internet email (and thus LISTSERV files) can be exchanged with communication systems off the Internet (BITNET,
fidonet, commercial services.) So this list is not Internet (only) tools, but tools that can be used on the
Internet.

6. A $ sign indicates a non-public domain tool or interface.

7. The easiest way to use this list is to access the hypertext version at URL
http://www.december.com/net/tools/1997/index.html

ABOUT THIS INFORMATION

This summary of Internet tools has been known worldwide since 1993 and is a collection of information sources about
software used on the Internet for network information retrieval, computer-mediated interaction, and
computer-mediated communication. A popular resource for Internet trainers and students to learn about the Internet,
it is updated continuously. You can use this list for your reference.

Internet and FTP: an article on the
client/server computing environment of the Internet. Illustrates IP Addresses and Domain Names. Defines File
Transfer Protocol, or FTP. Explains mirror sites and anonymous FTP servers. Compares the directory and file
structure of FTP servers to that of PC's and Macinstosh computers. Displays some FTP software, WS_FTP for the PC,
and Fetch for the Macintosh. Illustrates the way to write FTP information in messages and web pages.
(http://www.islandnet.com/~tmc/html/articles/ftp.htm)

BotSpot: The Spot for all Bots on the Net including 13 searchable bot classification databases, FAQ's,
Articles, Conferences, New Bots, Add a Bot, CommerceBots, NewsBots, SearchBots and more. Visit BotSpot of the
Week awarded by Team BotSpot (http://www.botspot.com)

----- A selected list of Web spiders:

Crawler: gathers indexes of the total contents of documents, as well as URLSs
and titles (http://webcrawler.com)

JumpStation: indexes the titles and headers of documents on the
Web, by Jonathon Fletcher (http://www.stir.ac.uk/jsbin/js/)

Lycos: uses information metrics to record the 100 most important words in a
document, along with the first 20 lines, so that users can often determine the value of a WWW document without
retrieving it (http://www.lycos.com)

MOMspider: a spider that you can install on your system
(Unix/Perl) (http://www.ics.uci.edu/WebSoft/MOMspider/)

NIKOS: allows a topic-oriented search of a spider database
(http://www.rns.com/cgi-bin/nikos)

RBSE URL: a database of URL references, with full
WAIS indexing of the contents of the documents, by David Eichmann
(http://rbse.jsc.nasa.gov/eichmann/urlsearch.html)

Gopher FAQ: Common Questions and Answers
about the Internet Gopher, a client/server protocol for making a world wide information service, with many
implementations (ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/gopher-faq)

Note: As of spring 1996, WAIS, Inc. no longer offers services or products. There are probably some WAIS servers
and sites out there; check the sources below for some leads; but expect these information spaces to eventually
die out.

WWW = World Wide Web

Definition: The WWW is a system for disseminating hypermedia resources through servers and retrieving hypermedia
resources through browsers on global or local computer networks. Resistance is futile.

-----Overviews

WWW home page/W3C: overview of the Web, from the the World Wide Web consortium
(W3C); this is the home page of the organization that coordinates the development of the Web (http://www.w3.org)

WWW Guide/Hughes: a classic online text from 1994
called Entering the World-Wide Web, A Guide to Cyberspace, by Kevin Hughes; gives a nice introduction to what the
Web is; of course, pointers to sites are outdated; historical interest
(http://www.eit.com/web/www.guide/guide.toc.html)

WWW-Yahoo: this is the Computers-World Wide Web
section of the famous subject tree of the Web; this is useful as a good place to look for sites on a range of Web
technology topics; the strength of this index is its breadth; entries vary widely in quality
(http://www.yahoo.com/Computers/World_Wide_Web/)

WWW via telnet: an example of using WWW via telnet (to the
University of Kansas) (telnet://lynx@lynx.cc.ukans.edu) Login as : lynx

WWW ftp info: some information files about the Web, includes papers, guides,
and draft specifications, from the World Wide Web Consortium (ftp://ftp.w3.org/pub/)

Bootstrap: information about gaining more
information about and accessing the Web (outdated, but of historical interest; you might also check here if you
want to find a Web telnet site in a pinch) (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/FAQ/Bootstrap.html)

-----Software

Browserwatch: this is it--this is where you can get the latest on WWW browsers; includes news and rumors,
information about plug-ins, statistics, as well as a long list of browser, organized by the platforms they
support, with links to the support sites for each browser (http://www.browserwatch.com)

Web Software: a list of software products related to
the Web (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Status.html)

-----Developing Information

Web Development: a summary of a methodology for developing a
web--includes planning, analysis, design, implementation, and development; The philosophy behind this
presentation is that Web development should involve more than just knowledge of HTML implementation or page
layout. Instead, developers can use a set of processes to take advantage of--and work with--the unique qualities
and characteristics of the World Wide Web using a variety of skills. (http://www.december.com/web/develop.html)

webreference.com: a well organized directory of information about web development, including reference lists as
well as original articles and commentary (http://www.webreference.com)

WWW Vlib: WWW Development section from the WWW Virtual library, a resource
collection for Web information providers and users, includes general information and links to various resources
(http://www.stars.com)

HTML Writer's Guild: an association of HTML writers and Web developers for
building awareness of web development skills (http://www.hwg.org)

IDA: Internet Developers Association, a trade association for
individuals involved in the development of content for the Internet (http://www.association.org)

WebMastery: a nicely-organized and
annotated directory of resource listings of Web with a discussion forum on the bottom of each page; covers HTML,
and related information, including resources on Web style, HTML, learning HTML, HTML editors, HTML converters,
servers, browsers, and images (http://union.ncsa.uiuc.edu/HyperNews/get/www/html/guides.html)

-----Navigating the Web

WWW Spiders: Spiders are a class of
software programs that traverse network hosts gathering information from and about resources
(http://www.december.com/net/tools/1997/nir-tools-spiders.html)

WWW gateways: interfaces between the WWW
and other information or communication systems (http://www.yahoo.com/Computers/World_Wide_Web/Gateways/)

WWW Sites (W3C): a list of registered WWW
servers, organized geographically by continent and country
(http://www.w3.org/hypertext/DataSources/WWW/Servers.html)

WWW Daily News: links to daily news about the Web from a large variety of
online sources; the stories are timely, well-selected, and useful; come here for a perspective on what is
happening with the Web daily (http://www.newslinx.com)

This is only a partial list of interfaces for accessing information on networks; for longer lists of World Wide
Web browsers, see:

Browserwatch: this is it--this is where you can get the latest on WWW browsers; includes news and rumors,
information about plug-ins, statistics, as well as a long list of browser, organized by the platforms they
support, with links to the support sites for each browser (http://www.browserwatch.com)

WWW Browser source: source code for a variety of Web browsers for
different hardware platforms (ftp://ftp.w3.org/pub/www/bin/)

WWW Clients: a list of programs to allow you to access
the WWW from your own computer (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/WWW/Clients.html)

Netscape World Magazine: everything you've always wanted to know about
the Netscape Navigator Web browser, includes tips, tricks, and techniques as well as news and resources; good
source of current developments (http://www.netscapeworld.com)

SlipKnot

Definition: a Windows-based graphical WWW browser which does NOT require SLIP or PPP or TCP/IP.

CMI = COMPUTER-MEDIATED INTERACTION

Languages and systems to foster interactivity in networked applications.

Active X: Microsoft's entry into the active Web page race; enables
software to intercommunicate in a networked environment, regardless of the language; ActiveX is built on the
Component Object Model (COM) (http://www.microsoft.com/activex)

Broadway: a project to bring universal access to network
applications on the Web; under development at the X consortium (http://www.x.org/consortium/broadway.html)

Inferno(tm): an operating system for delivering interactive media;
Limbo(tm) is the name of the language it supports; under development within the Computing Sciences Research Center
of Bell Labs at Lucent Technologies (http://www.lucent.com/inferno/)

Email tools: how to
retrieve files from FTP sites, explore the Internet via Gopher, search for information with Archie, Veronica, or
WAIS, tap into the World-Wide Web, and even access Usenet newsgroups using E-MAIL AS YOUR ONLY TOOL, by 'Doctor
Bob' Rankin (ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email)

PGP/PEM: allow you to communicate in a way which does
not allow third parties to read messages, certify that the person who sent the message is really who they claim
they are (http://hoohoo.ncsa.uiuc.edu/docs/PEMPGP.html)

PowWow: up to seven people can chat, send and receive files, and cruise the
World Wide Web together as a group (http://www.tribal.com)

Collage

Definition: Collage is a client/server group collaboration system which includes shared dialogue, text, and
graphics spaces, from NCSA.

Collage source: for Mac, PC, and X, from NCSA
(ftp://ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Visualization/Collage/)

CU-SeeMe

Definition: CU-SeeMe is a real-time, multiparty video-conferencing system for the Internet.

CU-SeeMe: home page of the real-time, multiparty video-conferencing system for the Internet; by the CU-SeeMe
Development Team of the Advanced Technologies and Planning group of the Network Resources division of Cornell
Information Technologies in cooperation with the members of the CU-SeeMe Consortium (http://cu-seeme.cornell.edu)

CU-SeeMe info: includes source code, and information (FAQ), from
Cornell University (ftp://gated.cornell.edu/pub/video)

USENET Info Center: a one-stop, comprehensive source of
information about Usenet, including help files, browsing and searching tools, FAQs, and other Usenet indexes and
Services (http://sunsite.unc.edu/usenet-i/)

Usenet connections: publicly accessible news servers,
including gopher access to Usenet, by Arnold Lesikar (list removed; however, instructions are given on how to
locate these) (gopher://tigger.stcloud.msus.edu:79/0lesikar)

STANDARDS

Protocols and standards are the basis for operating tools and forums on the Internet. In this section, I summarize
some sources of information about Internet and other protocols. Protocols associated with individual tools are
listed with the tools above.

Internet Protocols/NRL: listings of working groups and
information about protocols--applications, internet, next generation, network management, operational requirements,
routing, security, and much more, from Naval Research Lab (http://netlab.itd.nrl.navy.mil/Internet.html)

ISOC: Index to Internet Standards from the Internet Society
(http://info.isoc.org/standards/index.html)

Internet STDs: Internet Standards, sub-series of notes within the
RFC series which document Internet standards (ftp://nic.merit.edu/documents/std/)

SIPP: Simple Internet Protocol Plus (SIPP) is one of the
candidates being considered by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for the next version of the Internet
Protocol (http://town.hall.org/sipp/sipp-main.html)

X.400: a set of ISO/CCITT
standards that defines electronic mail, the only non-proprietary standard for interchange of electronic mail that
has the sanction of an official standards body
(ftp://ftp.u.washington.edu/pub/user-supported/reader/text/standards/X.400/)